Bittersweet Nomin/Jaeno

Chapter 1: Uncertainty

Jaemin slowly walked to school dragging his feet, just stalling as long as he could because let's face it who wants to go to school? Not Jaemin, that's for sure.

When he left that morning he put a smile on his face as he slung his backpack over his shoulder and kissed his mom goodbye. He always was happy when he was around other Sweet people. Maybe they just had that effect on each other but when he was alone, things like anxiety, exhaustion, and sadness always hit him hard. Needless to say he didn't like being alone.

Slowly but surely the statue of the giant gummy lizard that sat on the roof of Giant Gummy Lizard high school came into view. Jaemin pulled out his schedule and saw that his first class of the day was history. It was the first day and he hoped that he could get some of his friends in his classes, last year that did not happen, it was a long year.

Jaemin entered the gates and immediately noticed that something was off. The kids around weren't chatting loudly as they normally did. Instead they were huddling in small packs and whispering to each other. Jaemin tried to listen in on some conversations but he caught nothing. He guessed that all that time he spent listening to Exo songs with his earbuds in on the highest volume probably wasn't the best for his hearing. But it was Exo so it was worth it.

At the thought of Exo Jaemin immediately plugged in his earbuds and started jamming out to Exo Love shot(that song is such a bop I had to do it), but was quickly interrupted by a screeching dolphin sound ringing through the hallways, louder then normal due to the unusually quiet school.

Jaemin turned around and was immediately engulfed in a hug by his younger friend, "Jaemin Hyung! Chenle screeched, I'm so happy to see you again!"

"Aahh-I'm h-hap-py to s-see you t-to Chenle!" Jaemin wheezed out. When did Chenle get so strong? He was literally crushing the air out of Jaemin with his hug.

"Aha Chenle let's try to not kill our friend, it's just the first day." Jaemins other friend Mark appeared beside Chenle and gently pulled Chenle off Jaemin. He lightly chuckled when he saw Jaemin gasping for air once he was freed.

"Thanks Hyung," Jaemin sputtered out once he recovered, "and good to see you too."

The three boys all sat down together and started catching up about their summers. Chenle went to Candy city, the capital of the Sweet kingdom, with his family. Mark went out to the Fishy kingdom on a volunteer trip to help them rebuild houses that were wrecked in a recent hurricane.

"Wait so you actually saw the sea Hyung?" Chenle asked with wide eyes.

"Yeah I did." Mark responded, clearly enjoying the attention he was getting.

"So what was it like?"Jaemin asked with growing interest.

"It was like something I've never seen before." Mark immediately responded, setting back into his chair and gazing off, "When I looked into it I knew instantly that it was deeper and wider than I could see. I saw depth and mystery when I looked inside it. I couldn't get enough of being near the ocean."

Both Chenle and Jaemin sighed and sat back in their chairs gazing off into the same place that Mark was looking. Jaemin had always wanted to see the ocean, but being a resident of the Sweet kingdom, he didn't live anywhere near the ocean. His parents also didn't approve of his traveling to another kingdom, especially the Fishy kingdom which was known to be the poorest of the five kingdoms.

All three boys were startled by the sound of the overhead speaker coming on. "All students report to the auditorium for a mandatory all school meeting, you will start your morning classes after the meeting."